In fact, the durable White Sox shortstop played 156 games in 2010 and 158 in each of the last four seasons. But Ramirez was out of the lineup for Thursday afternoon's series opener at Comerica Park, a move that manager Robin Ventura deemed as best for Ramirez and probably best for the team in the short term, with Gordon Beckham moving in at shortstop.
"Last few days, you see Alexei, it needs to be better," said Ventura before the opener of the four-game set. "Just giving him a day to not be out there, and we'll see what happens with that.